That's a round trip too and is nothing compared to the 50 VERY hilly miles I cycled to the highest point in Hampshire and back with a friend, me on my modern day hybrid and him on the 1930's 3-speed that he had which ran rod actuated brakes, very tempermental thing it was.

[quote][p][bold]From the sidelines[/bold] wrote:
Challenging? 29 mostly flat miles?
All shall have prizes.[/p][/quote]That's a round trip too and is nothing compared to the 50 VERY hilly miles I cycled to the highest point in Hampshire and back with a friend, me on my modern day hybrid and him on the 1930's 3-speed that he had which ran rod actuated brakes, very tempermental thing it was.Ginger_cyclist

I went to buy a bike this morning – honest truth - not for any saintly sympathies for the environment but just to pop about town easy. First question to the desk chappie: Have you got a 3 speed bike cos I don’t need 18 gears, with drum brakes cos they work better in the wet? Desk chappie's eyes roll while he thinks deeply, wondering why I'm not a dedicated follower of bike fashion. I took that as a 'no'. OK, second question: If I leave a bike outside a shop around here for a few minutes, will it be there when I come out? He sucked his teeth, shook his head and saved me £500.

I went to buy a bike this morning – honest truth - not for any saintly sympathies for the environment but just to pop about town easy. First question to the desk chappie: Have you got a 3 speed bike cos I don’t need 18 gears, with drum brakes cos they work better in the wet? Desk chappie's eyes roll while he thinks deeply, wondering why I'm not a dedicated follower of bike fashion. I took that as a 'no'. OK, second question: If I leave a bike outside a shop around here for a few minutes, will it be there when I come out? He sucked his teeth, shook his head and saved me £500.good-gosh

good-gosh wrote:
I went to buy a bike this morning – honest truth - not for any saintly sympathies for the environment but just to pop about town easy. First question to the desk chappie: Have you got a 3 speed bike cos I don’t need 18 gears, with drum brakes cos they work better in the wet? Desk chappie's eyes roll while he thinks deeply, wondering why I'm not a dedicated follower of bike fashion. I took that as a 'no'. OK, second question: If I leave a bike outside a shop around here for a few minutes, will it be there when I come out? He sucked his teeth, shook his head and saved me £500.

You were doing it wrong, for a start, it's INCREDIBLY rare that you'll find bikes with drum brakes as they're an obsolete technology(it's getting hard to even find cars with them fitted), 3-speed is easy to find and it should be common sense that if it's not locked or bolted down, it's liable to be stolen, what you should have said was "Do you have a 3-speed bike and a good lock I can look at please?", many locks these days come with a frame mount for when you're not using them.

[quote][p][bold]good-gosh[/bold] wrote:
I went to buy a bike this morning – honest truth - not for any saintly sympathies for the environment but just to pop about town easy. First question to the desk chappie: Have you got a 3 speed bike cos I don’t need 18 gears, with drum brakes cos they work better in the wet? Desk chappie's eyes roll while he thinks deeply, wondering why I'm not a dedicated follower of bike fashion. I took that as a 'no'. OK, second question: If I leave a bike outside a shop around here for a few minutes, will it be there when I come out? He sucked his teeth, shook his head and saved me £500.[/p][/quote]You were doing it wrong, for a start, it's INCREDIBLY rare that you'll find bikes with drum brakes as they're an obsolete technology(it's getting hard to even find cars with them fitted), 3-speed is easy to find and it should be common sense that if it's not locked or bolted down, it's liable to be stolen, what you should have said was "Do you have a 3-speed bike and a good lock I can look at please?", many locks these days come with a frame mount for when you're not using them.Ginger_cyclist